Storm at 'worst time' for retail

Port closures delay holiday shipments

Hurricane Sandy broke a few links in the supply chain - the flow of inventory from manufacturer to retailer - during the most important weeks of preholiday shipping. The superstorm's Oct. 29 landfall "probably came at the worst time possible," for the big Black Friday stock-up, said Tom Pelliccio, the vice president of sales ...

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By Jessica DiNapoli

recordonline.com

By Jessica DiNapoli

Posted Nov. 15, 2012 at 2:00 AM

By Jessica DiNapoli
Posted Nov. 15, 2012 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

Hurricane Sandy broke a few links in the supply chain — the flow of inventory from manufacturer to retailer — during the most important weeks of preholiday shipping.

The superstorm's Oct. 29 landfall "probably came at the worst time possible," for the big Black Friday stock-up, said Tom Pelliccio, the vice president of sales at the Weehawken, N.J., location of MIQ Logistics, a transportation and distribution company.

Some Orange County companies have had to scramble to source inventory held up at New Jersey ports, delaying the shipment of goods to customers and losing thousands of dollars in the process. Major ports like Newark and Elizabeth were closed almost a week after the storm swept through.

Infora, a Warwick retailer and distributor, lost a container holding $100,000 in pocket-size tools for 10 days. Executives feared the merchandise — en route to one of the startup's first major clients — ended up as buried treasure.

"At one point we weren't sure if it had washed to sea or was buried in sand," said StJohn Wiles, an Infora co-owner.

Infora's logistics company, Transmodal, found the tools once its phone and Internet started working, Wiles said.

The stocking stuffers — including "The World's Smallest Bottle Opener" ­— were still waiting to go through customs in New Jersey on Tuesday.

Almost two weeks after Sandy, there's still a long delay in processing shipments, Wiles said.

Backlogs will make distribution and logistics workers "extremely busy" almost until Thanksgiving, Pelliccio said.

"Every day lost in transit at the pier, it affects annual sales," he said.

Corrugated-box manufacturer President Container Group suffered financial losses post-Sandy, said vice president Larry Grossbard, who declined to quantify the economic hit.

The Bergen County, N.J., company is an important piece in countless supply chains. The corrugated boxes it makes in the Town of Wallkill are used by businesses that supply retailers, Grossbard said.

President Container had trouble shipping finished products for two days because its clients, particularly those in New Jersey, Long Island and Staten Island, were closed and unable to receive shipments. Now, many of those clients are playing catchup to meet looming Black Friday demand.

"If they don't get boxes from us, they can't ship out their product," Grossbard said.

President is now at full production capacity, dispatching 40 tractor trailers loaded with corrugated product to its customers across the Northeast every day.

Infora's container of 10,000 mini-tools is the company's first shipment to hard-won client L.L. Bean, which plans to place them at checkout lines at its stores. The tools are the impulse buys consumers pick up while they're waiting in line, Wiles said.

The delay delivering the product cost about $50,000 in lost sales. The money can't be recouped, but the loss won't sink Infora, which has about $2 million in annual sales, Wiles said. But he worries that his company's credibility with L.L. Bean is compromised.

"My worst fear, because we're a smallish company, is that they lost a little bit of faith in our ability to supply," he said, adding that he hopes the company understands the extenuating circumstances caused by Sandy.